Irish Poets Theo Dorgan & Paula Meehan at Folger Theatre

The O.B. Hardison Poetry Series at Folger Shakespeare Library presents two of Ireland's most acclaimed contemporary poets in conversation. Paula Meehan is an award-winning Irish poet, playwright, and professor whose books of poetry include Painting Rain, Return and No Blame, Pillow Talk and Dharmakaya. She is a recipient of the Butler Award for Poetry from the Irish American Cultural Institute. Theo Dorgan is a poet, prose writer, editor, and translator whose collections of verse include Greek and What This Earth Costs Us. He's presented numerous literature programs on radio and television, was director of Poetry Ireland, and received the 2010 Lawrence O'Shaughnessy Prize for Irish Poetry. The two poets will discuss their work with Joseph M. Hassett, Folger Poetry Board member and author of W.B. Yeats and the Muses.

Reviews & Ratings

I was delighted that the Folger with the support of the Irish Arts Council provided this opportunity to hear 2 Irish poets that rarely come to the U.S. I was particularly thrilled to hear Paula Meehan, as women poets in Ireland don't often get the recognition they richly deserve. The setting was ideal for the reading, the moderator knowledgable, and the introductions lent much to the evening. Street parking near the Folger Theater is easy to find on a weekday evening, and the proximity to the Library of Congress and Capitol make it a relatively safe neighborhood. at night

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Description

Supported by Imagine Ireland, an initiative of Culture Ireland

Introduction and conversation moderated by Joseph M. Hassett, Folger Poetry Board member and author of _W.B. Yeats and the Muses

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Paula Meehan is an award-winning Irish poet, playwright, and professor. Her books of poetry include Painting Rain, Return and No Blame, Pillow Talk, and Dharmakaya, among others. She is a recipient of the Butler Award for Poetry from the Irish American Cultural Institute.

From _Grandmother, Gesture*

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My grandmother’s hands come back to soothe me.

They smell of rain. They smell of the city.

They untangle my hair and smooth

my brow. There’s more truth

To those hands than to all the poems

in the holy books . . .

—_Paula Meehan

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Theo Dorgan is a poet, prose writer, editor, and translator. His latest poetry collections include Greek and What This Earth Costs Us. He has written scripts for film documentaries and worked as a presenter of literature programs on radio and television for more than 25 years. A former director of Poetry Ireland, he is the recipient of the 2010 Lawrence O’Shaughnessy Prize for Irish Poetry.

About the Ticket Supplier: Folger Theatre

Home to the world’s largest Shakespeare collection, Folger Shakespeare Library is a world-class center for scholarship, learning, culture, and the arts.

The Folger’s Elizabethan Theatre, modeled after the innyard theatres popular in Shakespeare’s day, hosts more than 40,000 audience members each year. It presents a full calendar of performances and programs, from the Helen Hayes Award-winning Folger Theatre productions and Folger Poetry readings to early music concerts by the Folger Consort and family activitie.

The Folger Shakespeare Library, located on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, is home to the world’s largest and finest collection of Shakespeare materials and to major collections of other rare Renaissance books, manuscripts, and works of art.